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HISTORICALLY BLACK: DON BARKSDALE

I would consider myself an avid fan of Basketball. So because of my loyalty to basketball and since this is probably the biggest weekend in the NBA, I decided to write about prominent African Americans in reference to basketball. First, I spoke about Maurice Stokes–the first black NBA rookie of the year, then Larry Nance, an African American who was the first man to win the NBA slam dunk contest. Tonight on the eve of the NBA All Star game, its only right that I remind everyone of who the first African American NBA All Star was–his name was Don Barksdale.

I’ve noticed I have developed a habit of documenting African Americans that were the first to achieve a specific feat. In the future I will focus less on the ability to be first, but more on the person’s impact. But Don Barksdale’s particular impact was that he was a “first” on many levels. Aside from being the first NBA All Star–the former Boston Celtic, was the first African American All American. Barksdale was also the first African American Olympian, and Gold Medalist! Donald Barksdale was quite the pioneer for African Americans in sports. He was the primary force in establishing Basketball as OUR sport :). An NBA All Star, and another reason why black history should be celebrated year ’round(K*W)